1982 Kennedy Half Dollar

The Philadelphia and Denver Mint circulation strike 1982 Kennedy Half Dollars represent two of the more difficult to find coins of the series. The mintages were somewhat lower than typical for the series at 10,819,000 and 13,140,102, but more significantly the coins were not issued within annual mint sets from the United States Mint.

As a cost savings measure, the Mint had suspended the issuance of the annual coin sets which included circulation strike examples of each of the years coins. For other years of the Kennedy Half Dollar series, uncirculated examples of the coins can easily be acquired from these sets, which were sold to collectors typically in quantities of a few million. Without these sets as a primary source, the 1982-P and 1982-D half dollars become more scarce and command a premium.

The US Mint did continue to issue the annual proof set. Thus, a proof half dollar was struck at the San Francisco Mint with a total mintage of 3,957,479.